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If a champion is painful to play against, and not a good teammate, should they be looked at?

DptBear·4/28/2014, 12:55:45 PM·2 votes·824 views

A champion has to have virtue at some point to someone to be worthwhile, correct? I assert that additionally, for them to be a responsible member of the game, that they have to be worthwhile to multiple someones -- simultaneously.

I offer an initial example of a champion like this: Nidalee. Arguably one of the more annoying opponents due to her high potential single hit damage and complete safety via range and mobility. However, she is also an incredibly frustrating teammate, as she does not have the ability to reliably follow an initiation without endangering herself -- a tactic rarely favored by those who play her.

The only person who really will enjoy her is the summoner. The endorphins they must feel when landing a spear make it worth it. But they aren't realizing that they are not doing their team a boon by playing Nidalee.

She has her place at high skill levels where she is more consistent, but for the vast majority of players I feel she either dominates (someone slumming it below their true elo) or fizzles with high damage numbers and no actual contribution.

Is my assessment a reasonable one? Or am I missing something?

7 Comments

Hyrum Graff4/28/2014, 3:04:43 PM2 votes

As someone who plays as, with, and against nid, I think you're on the mark. And there is a rework in progress, which I believe gives her a lvl 1 ult and moves some of the power in her kit out of her spear.

However, I don't think her playstyle is one that should be removed entirely. I do, however, think that she should be a niche pick, for if you're making a full-on siege/poke/disengage team comp, instead of a common champ.

In terms of being a niche champ, I think she actually does her job pretty well, and would see a lot less play if she weren't so damn fun to play as.

Angry Monster4/28/2014, 3:22:17 PM2 votes

missing something.

Her job is to weaken a defense and the let others fight. While you may not like that in your play style, it is a style some people like. Its called a siege comp.

Thales4/28/2014, 3:29:23 PM2 votes

I wouldn't say that's really what Nid is supposed to be. She offers a lot of strategic power, but most teams aren't coordinated enough to capitalize on her poke and sieging. What you point out, that she's weak at actually fighting outside of small skirmishes, is what makes her balanced. Or balanced-ish (N.B.: I always ban Nidalee. Damn spears...).

If played right, Nid removes the need for initiation. You don't need to initiate if you can just drop your opponents low enough that they have to cede whatever objective you're going for. Teams that ignore that to force fights without waiting for Nid to land spears will pay the price. It's much like how teams with Teemo that stick to 5v5s down the middle of a lane will suffer, or teams with LeBlanc that try to play the farm game rather than roaming or skirmishing will fall off hard.

Also, I'm sorry, but could you please write a little more naturally? Though "boon" can mean "favor", it doesn't in that context. There's a fair bit of malapropism in this, and it does distract from your point, which is one worthy of discussion. If English isn't your first language, my apologies for criticizing.

Cerbearus4/29/2014, 3:37:23 PM1 votes

She IS getting looked at, a while back Morello said they were working on solutions for her binary playstyle.

Yeti King5/3/2014, 3:33:03 PM1 votes

She really has her place in certain team comps, if you want a pokey team to siege up turrets, she is the pic for that. If on the other hand you're going for teamfights, not so much. Each team style has it's set champs. The problem with like soloque is that few teams build towards a style. Each just picks their favorite champ and rolls out